Tragedy in the making
M1 funding fail and new laws ‘recipe for disaster’
THE State Government is being warned it will have blood on its hands after not funding any upgrade to crowded Pacific Motorway exits as new rules force trucks into the crowded left hand lanes.
Gold Coast State Opposition MPs are furious after discovering that last week’s Budget provides no major road funding north of Helensvale.
In a letter tabled in State Parliament a Pimpama resident recounted the daily fear of being caught on the M1 waiting to get on the offramps at Exits 45 and 49.
“Of an evening, there are very long queues on the motorway, this is so so so (sic) dangerous. I hold my breath waiting for someone travelling at 110 plus to run into the back of the queue. This is a disaster waiting to happen,” the Pimpama resident said.
“Surely, given that Pimpama is now considered to be the fastest growing area on the northern Gold Coast, there would be a high priority to provide adequate roads to carry all the residents it is attracting.”
Coomera MP Michael Crandon said the M1 traffic-buster plan for the Commonwealth Games which would see trucks being forced to use the two left-hand lanes from August 1 could cause a tragedy.
“I have three exits both ways (in my electorate) where we have ramping every morning and night. All those trucks are going to be forced into those lanes,” Mr Crandon said.
“You’re talking a B-double, the biggest of the trucks at 65 tonne, at 110km/h belting up the left lane of the highway where there is ramping onto the exit. It’s a recipe for a disaster and will be on their shoulders.”
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in State Parliament late last week talked up the Government’s transport operations plan for the Games which would see 4.5 tonne trucks moved to the left lanes from the M3 merge at Eight Miles Plains to Nerang.
But truckies are opposed to the changes and fines, saying it is safer for them to stay in the outside lanes to keep away from slower motorists.
The only other solution being offered to ease M1 traffic congestion is also short term and involves traffic lights, first installed at an M1 overpass roundabout in 2013.
The traffic signals on a roundabout at the eastern side of Exit 45 – designed to reduce queuing on the southbound offramp – were now operating for longer periods in the afternoon peak. Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey admitted the increased use of signals due to the growth in the northern Coast.
He said the Government was undertaking planning for long-term upgrades at interchanges including Exit 38 at Yatala North, Exit 41 at Yatala South, Exit 45 at Ormeau, Exit 49 at Pimpama and Exit 57 at Oxenford.
But he added that “it should be noted that there is currently no federal or state funding in place to construct any upgrades to these interchanges”.